Film Review: Kiss of Death (1947)

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(source: tmdb.org)

Before becoming one of the most iconic characters in history of cinema Joker used to be one of the most iconic characters in history of comic books. Long time before he would be brought to the screen for the first time, iconic arch-villain has inspired one of the most legendary acting performance in history of Hollywood. That performance can be seen in Kiss of Death, 1947 film directed by Henry Hathaway, which is considered one of the classics of film noir.

The protagonist, played by Victor Mature, is Nick Bianco, man who spent much of his life in perpetual cycle of unemployment, poverty, crime and serving time in prison. On Christmas Eve he with two cohorts arrives into one of New York City’s skyscrapers to rob a jewellery store. Heist goes wrong and Nick gets wounded by police and arrested. Despite offer by Assistant District Attorney Louis D’Angelo (played by Brian Donlevy) to inform on gang members in exchange for lighter sentence Nick sticks to his principles of not being a “squealer”. He is further motivated by assurances given by lawyer Earl Howser (played by Taylor Holmes) that the gang would provide for his wife and two little daughters while he serves his prison sentence. After some time his wife stops sending him letter and learns why when former neighbour and babysitter Nettie Cavallo (played by Coleen Gray) visits him and tells that wife became desperate and committed suicide while children ended in orphanage. Nick now wants to get his children back at any cost so he decides to co-operate with D’Angelo. He is to collect incriminating information about his acquaintance Tommy Udo (played by Richard Widmark), vicious psychopathic killer.

Kiss of Death is clear example of Hollywood post-WW2 trend of making crime film in as realistic manner as possible. Script by Charles Lederer and Ben Hecht was based on the story by Eleazar Lipsky, Manhattan district attorney, and the further authenticity was achieved by film being shot on New York locations, including infamous Sing Sing prison. There were, however, limits to this approach, most notably due to strict censorship standards of Hays Code, which made producers remove scenes dealing with rape of Nick’s wife (played by Patricia Morrison). Kiss of Death is nevertheless gritty enough and the scene in which Tommy Udo murders wheelchair-bound mother of suspected informant (played by Mildred Dunnock) is one of the most shocking in history of 1940s Hollywood.

Henry Hathaway directs film very well, confidently switching between suspense (like in robbery scene at the beginning) and drama. His efforts are helped by Victor Mature, one of the most underrated actors of Classic Hollywood, who plays typical film noir antihero as flawed man who makes serious mistakes but who evokes audience’s sympathies as dedicated family man. Mature’s efforts are, however, overshadowed by Richard Widmark in his screen debut. Widmark wasn’t the first casting choice for Hathaway and relationship between two men at the set wasn’t good at first, but they would later become lifelong friend. Widmark brought very interesting way of playing Tommy Udo. As an enthusiastic fan of Batman comics, he decided to base his character on Joker and have him hysterically and menacingly laugh at any opportunity, including those when he threatens and committs terrible violence. The result was one of greatest acting performances that brought Widmark nomination for Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and was later immortalised as model for main villain in Stephen King’s novel The Green Mile.

Kiss of Death is very good film, but it isn’t perfect. Romance between Nick and Nettie seems a little bit forced and the ending is slightly melodramatic. The ending was supposed to be tragic, but producers decided to make it much lighter through voice-over narration by Nettie. That narration was used in the rest of the film, thus giving Kiss of Death proper film noir credentials. The film was remade twice – in 1958 as Western under title The Fiend Who Walked the West and in 1995 as eponymous contemporary crime film starring David Caruso and Nicolas Cage.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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